PIN OAK CEMETERY

History

Pin Oak Cemetery is located in Milam County, Texas on land granted to Jose Francisco Ruiz (1783-1840). Ruiz was a Mexican military officer and, later, a signer of the Texas Declaration of Independence. The Ruiz family and Thomas Jefferson Chambers both claimed the land covered by this grant, and the matter was ultimately settled by the Texas Supreme Court.

The cemetery takes its name from either the surrounding community or the nearby creek. The Pin Oak community extends along Pin Oak Creek. There was in effect a North Pin Oak (which includes the area around the cemetery) and a South Pin Oak (which includes the area in which Madison Walker and some of the Kornegays lived).

The earliest known burials were in 1861 (Charlie Shafer, followed by James D. Faubion). However, the land could have been used as a cemetery before that time. Apparently, many graves were marked only with a stone. Quite a few markers have disappeared over the years.

The land that is crossed to get to the cemetery, adjoining FM 2095, was once owned by Josiah John "Bull" Williams. The land on the opposite (southern) side of the cemetery was owned by Walker P. Perkins. A deed recorded at Volume 43, Page 475 of the Milam County, Texas Deed Records shows that Perkins, in 1896, purchased a 180-acre tract and that, in the same year, Perkins conveyed about 2 1/2 acres of the tract to W. H. Spinks, R. T. Littleton, and John Ditto "as trustees in trust for the use and benefit of the surrounding and adjoining community for a grave yard." In 1972, the 180-acre tract (save and except the cemetery) was conveyed by Perkins' children to Eugene W. Baumann and wife Elaine Shafer Baumann.

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